Creating Products People Want

Live tooling refers to the process of setting up a CNC shop with tools that can be moved or run by machine instead of by hand. These tools typically can turn, drill, or pivot in different directions on the fly, as opposed to having to shut the machine down to install an entirely different tool to get the job done. If your current shop does not yet have live tooling, here are just some of the reasons why this investment is absolutely worth it for the future of your company.

Live Tooling is Efficient and Will Help You Complete Projects Ahead of Schedule

When you work with manual tools in a CNC machine, each tool only typically moves in one direction or takes one specific action. When it's time to work on a specific material, you often will have to shut down the tool and have a worker manually move the material around, or remove the manual tool and install a different one before starting the machine back up. Each time you do this, it adds more downtime to your workday. With live tooling, the machine can automatically change angles or adjust the materials as needed to continue the work process without stopping. Less downtime means greater efficiency for your business, and it's also likely that you'll be able to complete your projects more quickly going forward.

Less Human Error

Another factor to having a worker manually adjust a tool or move material around is there is room for human error, even with experienced workers. With CNC live tooling, these manual adjustments can be reduced or eliminated. Once your live tooling is set up, the machine will operate exactly the same way every time, leading to more precision for the products you are creating. There will be fewer errors introduced by your workers, and your products will all be made with the same level of quality and accuracy.

Reduce Your Labor Costs

In the short term, you might want to keep most of your workers on staff while ramping up your new live tooling process. But once you see the results, you might be able to save money as a business owner by reducing your labor costs. If you don't need workers to make manual adjustments anymore, you don't need to keep as many people on payroll going forward. Investing in live tooling will pay for itself quickly, while creating more and better products.